I watched Cannon Busters on Netflix recently – a decent anime that captures a sci-fi fantasy aesthetic that is Starfinder all over – and I noticed a minor character that used a futuristic guitar as a weapon. Which got me thinking back to all the other times I’ve seen something like that. It’s not super common, but I can certainly recall it showing up in Silverhawks, Trigun, even Robotech. Which makes it perfectly thematic for Starfinder!

SPECIAL WEAPON

Hyper-Instrument

Hyper-instruments are a type of two-handed special weapon that takes intense training to use. A hyper-instrument can be any kind of advanced, powered instrument: from electric guitars and boosted saxophones, to powered pan flutes or even a vocal performance with a special mic and amplifying equipment. To use a hyper-instrument you must have ranks in Profession: Musician and have the feat Special Weapon Proficiency: Hyper-Instruments. Otherwise the weapon is just a musical instrument to you, with a puzzling array of levers, buttons, and other add-ons that you do not know how to use. If you do have ranks in Profession: Musician and the appropriate feat you can use any hyper-instrument as a weapon, provided you have spent at least an hour with that weapon prior to combat, familiarizing yourself with it’s specific quirks and tuning it to your preferences.

Weapon Specialization works differently for Hyper-Instruments than it does for other weapons. Rather than adding your level to the damage done with the weapon, you add half your total modifier in Profession: Musician to the damage. So if you have 5 ranks in Profession: Musician, it is a class skill, and you have a Charisma modifier of +3, your total modifier would be +11, and with Weapon Specialization you would add +5 to the damage done with a Hyper-Instrument.

TWO-HANDED HYPER-INSTRUMENT WEAPONS

I’m eager to see the inevitable Morlamaw Envoy wielding a Hyper-Tuba!

Categories: Article Writing

Jeremy Corff

Artist and Writer